Couples Hits In Clutch, Takes Overtime Triumph In World Championship

Fred Couples eagled and birdied the last two holes of regulation, then beat Loren Roberts and Vijay Singh on the second playoff hole Sunday to win the $2.1 million Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf.

Couples, the tournament’s first winner in 1991, was three strokes behind Roberts and two behind Singh with two holes to go.

He began his remarkable comeback with an eagle on the par-5 17th. Then, with Roberts off the course and Singh making a birdie to share the lead, Couples hit a 20-foot birdie putt, forcing a playoff with all three players at 5-under-par 279.

Each parred the first extra hole, but Couples prevailed on the par-4 18th with a birdie to win the second playoff in the tournament’s five-year history. The other came in 1992, when Nick Faldo defeated Greg Norman.

Couples, who closed with a 71, won $550,000. Roberts had a 69 and Singh of Fiji a 70. Each earned $250,000.

British Open champion John Daly completed the tournament with striking consistency, shooting rounds of 80-80-84-80 for a 324 total that left him 45 strokes off the lead in the 19-player field.

Couples began the day with a one-stroke lead - one ahead of Singh and two ahead of Roberts. He birdied the first hole and went two in front of Singh, who bogeyed the par-4 first, and three ahead of Roberts, who parred the opening hole.

However, Couples dropped three strokes on the front nine after bogeys at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 7. Roberts bogeyed the 10th to share the lead with Singh. However, he regained the lead with a birdie on the next hole.

Roberts and Singh birdied the 14th. That left Roberts one stroke ahead of Singh and three in front of Couples. Then it took but two holes for Couples to wipe out the three-stroke deficit.